Viral video shows Khawaja Asif calling Imran Khan a religious hardliner who wants to bring an Islamic system

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team reviewed this content and determined that it is misleading

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan team examined the video of PML-N leader Khawaja Asif’s interview to corroborate what he said.

Social media users were sharing a video on X on August 26, 2024, claiming that PML-N leader Khawaja Asif said the party was liberal while Imran Khan was staunchly religious and wanted to bring an Islamic system. However, the PML-N leader said no such thing in the circulating video.

HOW IT STARTED

On August 26, 2024, a user, who appeared to be a PTI supporter based on their past posts, shared a video of Defence Minister Khawaja Asif giving an interview. The user claimed that Asif said: “We are liberal. Imran Khan is staunchly religious and wants to bring an Islamic system in the country.”

The post gained over 87,000 views.

The user subsequently reshared the post on September 1, gaining over 160,000 views. Further searches also showed the user had shared the same post and claim previously in June 29, February and January 2024.

Other users, including PTI lawyer Naeem Bukhari and Rehana Dar, also shared the post previously at different points, as can be seen here and here.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to verify the claim due to its virality and repetitive nature due to it being repeatedly shared at various points previously.

Referring to the attached to corroborate what Asif said shows the following. The transcript of the 44-second video clip is reproduced below:

Interviewer: “The matter of Pakistani domestic affairs is of interest to US foreign policy. You have elections coming sooner rather than later. What’s the foreign policy difference between PML-N and PTI at this stage?”

Asif: “I would call myself, if I’m allowed that indulgence, we are much more liberal than PTI in a political sense [and] on the foreign policy front. They appeal more to people who are on religious fringes, sometimes.”

The small clip was from Asif’s talk at the Asia Society forum on September 27, 2017, when he was the foreign minister.

The rest of Asif’s talk did not contain anything related to Imran allegedly trying to bring an Islamic system of governance in Pakistan, nor did he call the PTI founder a religious hardliner or staunchly religious.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: MISLEADING

The claim that a viral video shows PML-N leader Khawaja Asif calling Imran Khan a staunchly religious person who wants to bring an Islamic system is misleading.

While Asif did say the PML-N was more liberal than the PTI, he did not outright categorise his party as a liberal party. Furthermore, he only said that the PTI appealed to the religious fringes and did not call Imran a religious hardliner who wanted to bring an Islamic system in Pakistan.

Evidence and References

Khawaja Asif talk at Asia Society forum in September 27, 2017:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKiGkbyfHPA&t=12s